>>3224589>It's not the fantasy of petty, ancient and prejudicial men, but more like a very thorough study of human nature by men which were a hell of a lot wiser than you will probably ever beI've found that it's both of those things, always simultaneously.
Yes, religion as philosophy is integral to its nature, but it's equally important to think of religion as culture. Religion does not exist in a bubble. It is not simply a tool for the examination of human nature by this world's St. Augustines. It is a facet of a people that shapes and is shaped by the culture of that people. It was a sort of ancient science, a means of understanding the world surrounding early man and the world beyond him
Now onto my point: It is you, anon, who are missing the point, not ... anon? need to word that better
You focused too much on anon's generalized dismissal of religion, projecting so that you missed the point of his diatribe - anon was not complaining about religion because its gods were false, but because those who revere false gods hurt real people.
For majority of a religion's believers, the bearded men in the sky were and are fact. For them, dogma necessitates no further reflection, no further exploration of the inner workings of the self. It is simple fact, unchanging, inflexible.
You say religion is chiefly philosophy, chiefly examination and understanding. I ask you, where was the gentleness of the Buddha when Rohingya villages were being torched out of existence at the behest of saffron-robed monks? Where was the neighborly love of Christ in the Inquisition? I'd give an example for Islam, but das too easy
You say faith is mostly built on wisdom. I'm with Anon - I say it is mostly built on hysteria. Especially now, when wisdom need not be conjoined with faith - I ask you, O Infidel, what use have you for faith when one is free to think while not kneeling to the altar of deities one does not worship? Narrow-minded to dismiss belief then as madness, but belief now?